Childhood and youth
(1955-1978)

His higher education began with vocational training, but later
he studied Law for one year and Economics for two years at
the University of Barcelona. He
himself has said that he gave up his university career as he was
working and studying at the same time.

Local politics
(1978-2004)

At the age of 25, he was appointed Deputy mayor for Local
Taxation in Sant Joan Despí, where he was also the spokesman of the
Socialist group on the council. Subsequently, between 1985 and
April 2004, he was mayor of Cornellà de Llobregat. In the
1999 elections and again in 2003 he was re-elected with an absolute
majority.

In 1988, after the creation of the Consells Comarcals (District
Councils), he was elected president of the District Council of Baix
Llobregat, a post he occupied until late 1997. He became a member
of the Diputació de Barcelona (Provincial Council) in 1983 as
Provincial Deputy for Public Works. In 1987, he was appointed
second vice-president of the Diputació and in 1991 he became
delegate president for Agriculture and the Environment, a post to
which he was appointed again in 1995.

In 1999, he was appointed First Vice-president, and he was
President of the Diputació from 1 July 2003.

In 1994, he was elected Secretary for Organization of his party,
and he has been First Secretary of the party since 18 June
2000.

His appointment in April 2004 as minister for Industry, Trade
and Tourism meant he resigned all his posts in the local
administration. He combined his work as minister with the post of
First Secretary of the PSC and member of the Federal Executive of
the PSOE.

Return to Catalan
politics

After Pasqual Maragall announced that he would
not stand again as candidate for president of the Generalitat de
Catalunya, the National Committee of the PSC elected him[1] as
candidate for the presidency of Catalonia in the elections of 1 November 2006. In these
elections no party obtained an absolute majority, and the PSC won
only the second-largest number of seats after CiU; however, the PSC again
reached an agreement with Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and Iniciativa per Catalunya to form a
coalition government, with Montilla at its head. He officially took
office as president on Tuesday, 28 November 2006, and he is the
first President of the Generalitat in modern times to have been
born outside Catalonia.